


all the lights that light the way are blinding

by paradoxicalRenegade (citadelofswords)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Beforus, F/F, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, the last four are simply mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-22
Updated: 2014-04-22
Packaged: 2018-01-20 08:12:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1503251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/citadelofswords/pseuds/paradoxicalRenegade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>Her Imperial Benevolence looked up from her novel and let out a low, musical sigh. Silhouetted in her doorway was a very tall, very familiar lady pirate. Sometimes she wondered if it was a mistake to allow the Gam8itor unrestricted access to the palace, but she had her moments. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>The Gam8itor returns the heiress to the palace. The empress just wanted to practice braiding, and somehow ended up in a puddle of feelings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	all the lights that light the way are blinding

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FlyingSeaweed](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyingSeaweed/gifts).



> Whoops, I fulfilled two requests. I simply ADORED this prompt (and the pairing) and sort of took it and ran- I hope you don't mind.
> 
> Beta'd by the lovely Jules, who of course doesn't have an ao3 but she's good at nitpicking with awkward phrasings.

“W-wait! You n-need to be announced first!” 

“Fuck your announcement, she knows I’m coming!” 

Her Imperial Benevolence looked up from her novel and let out a low, musical sigh. Silhouetted in her doorway was a very tall, very familiar lady pirate. Sometimes she wondered if it was a mistake to allow the Gam8itor unrestricted access to the palace, but she had her moments. 

The door slammed shut and in she stepped. Seven feet tall, hair a wild, untamable mane of ink black, with fangs that gleamed in the moonlight- the pirate queen was a sight to behold. Feferi sighed in relief as she saw that Vriska had her young heiress by the braids. 

“Leggo!” Meenah yelled, her teeth still too small for her to enunciate properly. Feferi smiled and moved forwards to scoop Meenah up into her arms. 

“You found her!” 

“She found me,” Vriska snapped. “Snuck onto my boat in the middle of the night.” 

“Wanted to sea ‘Ranea,” Meenah grumbled. “Don’t coddle me, I’m not a coddlefish!” 

Feferi gently shoved Meenah in the direction of the door. “Go upstairs,” she said, trying to be as stern as possible. “And go to sleep. I doubt you've gotten ANY since you snuck out.” 

“I got a little,” Meenah held up her fingers, pinching the air into a tiny space. “SEA?” 

“Hush!” Meenah took off, hitting every other stair with a loud thump, hair trailing behind her. Feferi sighed. 

“She is such a SHELLFISH little grubling,” Vriska mumbled, and pulled off one of her high heeled boots. Feferi giggled. 

“Shellfish. I really AM rubbing off on you, aren't I?” 

Vriska rolled her eyes. “There enough room on that throne for two, Your Imperiousness?” 

She didn't wait for a response, merely settled her huge frame into the golden chair. Feferi was immensely grateful her guards were nowhere to be seen- trying to explain why her ex-adviser, moirail, and the most fearsome of all the pirates on Beforan seas was sitting in the throne of the Empress was an exhausting and altogether useless task. 

Feferi hitched up her trailing skirts as she moved to settle on the arm of the chair, fingers already working into Vriska’s tangled hair to work out the kinks. "Vriska!" she exclaimed, shocked. "What is this in your hair?" 

"My lusus, probably. Or what's left of her. Really, it was far past her time to go!" 

"No!" Feferi untangled her fingers from Vriska's hair, as blood of a deep purple stained her fingertips. "Oh, Vriska, did you go fight the Archmage again?" 

"Yes, and this time I won," Vriska said proudly. "Got my ship back and took his young jade slave. And I know what you're thinking, princess." Feferi would have snarled at the use of her old nickname, but she settled for yanking through Vriska's hair sullenly. "I fully plan on returning her to her cavern, just as soon as she heals." 

Feferi drew in a breath. She knew exactly which of the Archmage's slaves Vriska had retaken- the Mediator was an old friend of them both, as well as the well-loved lusus figure to a young mutant troll Feferi knew dearly.  _Must resist urge to inquire_ , she thought dazedly, even as she heard herself say, “How is Crabcatch?”  _Oh, carp, act casual!_  

“What, the Revolter?” Vriska scoffed and leaned into Feferi’s touch with a sigh. “Haven’t seen ‘im lately.” 

Feferi almost pouted, and then thought against it. Pouting was for  _wigglers_ , not for empresses. “Don’t LIE to me. I know you’ve sean him lately.” 

“He’s fine,” Vriska snorted. “Stirring up trouble in the towns, as per usual. He’s got the Wanderer wrapped ‘round his littlest claw, I would bet anyfin on it.” 

Feferi buried her face in Vriska’s hair. “Fish puns!” 

“I don’t  _unnerstand_ why you don’t just ask him to come here.” Vriska kicked off her other boot and drew her legs underneath her as Feferi worked through the knots in her hair to carefully braid it. “You know he’ll do whatever you ask of him.” 

“Except give up his cause,” Feferi said miserably. “He won’t give up his cause for me. I've tried to eshplain to him how I feel, and he won’t listen. That’s why he storms away!” 

“He doesn't listen to you because you haven’t changed, Peixes. Your intent is good, but- look, you know how the lowbloods feel. They don’t like the coddling.” 

Vriska pulled Feferi into her lap at that point, leaving her hair half braided in order to work on Feferi’s. It was becoming distinctly clear that Feferi was the one who needed the papping, not the other way around. 

“Let me guess,” Vriska said, expertly weaving Feferi’s hair into a fishtail braid just as Meenah had once showed her. “You haven’t gone to him, told him how you feel?” 

Feferi had not, she thought glumly as she leaned on her hands. The Revolter was always on the move- he never stayed in one spot for very long. She, on the other hand, was... the Empress. That was enough of a reason why they wouldn't ever work. 

"I know him better than anyone," Vriska said, not a trace of presumption in her voice. "Better than even the Justiciar, I'd wager. If you asked him to stay, he would stay." 

"But he would never give up his cause!" Feferi pointed out. "And I know I can get this to work, I just know it! So we'd keep fighting and he'd storm away like he always does!" 

"Fef, you're caught between a rock and a hard place, and something's gotta give." Vriska sighed, tying off the end of Feferi's braid and shoving her off the throne. "Either you give up on Karkat or you give up on the coddling policies. And you know which side I'm on, I know you do, because there's a reason why I don't work here anymore." 

"You don't work here because the Archmage kicked you out." 

" _No_ , I don't work here because I agree with Karkat. I'm only still here because I'm too coddamn pale for you to leave. Also, the Archmage freaks me out. he's so red for you it's  _sickening._  Fef? You okay?" 

In all the time they had known one another, in the whole time they'd been together, Feferi had never heard Vriska outright say that she was pale for her. They'd flipped quadrants very early in her reign after a long, hard battle with the Mirthful Jongleur over a religious war in the South, in which Vriska had almost had to flip ash to break up the fight. Afterwards, Vriska was patching Feferi up, muttering all the while about "no one's allowed to hurt you but  _me_ , you hear me?"  

Feferi had simply blurted, "I don't think I'm black for you anymore." 

And now here they were. When they had first met, Vriska had knelt in front of her Heiress Apparent, and Feferi had coldly told her to stand straight. Now Feferi was on the bottom step, Vriska was settled on the throne, and the air was just as thick. 

"Tone down on the policies," Vriska said. "You can get him to stay with you. Just ease up on the coddling before the whole country turns to war." 

"Since when," Feferi said coldly, "have you wanted to stop a war?" 

"Since I wanted you to be happy." Vriska replied. 

Feferi was silent. Then, she turned away. The braid fell over one shoulder as she stared out at the open sea. 

"I just can't do that," she said. "I can't. I can get this to work." 

Vriska slowly swung her legs until she was settled in the throne as she would if the pirate queen had a throne. "On your own head," she said quietly, "so be it." 

They watched each other for a long moment. Then, Vriska stood and stretched her arms. "Come with me," she said. "You can leave the palace for one night. Let me show you the open sea, and what tranquility is truly like. Let me show you why I don't come back." 

Feferi hesitated. Then, she drew herself up slowly. "It would be an honor," she said. 

And so the Gam8itor drew Her Imperial Benevolence out into the night. (And if Meenah snuck out after them to see Aranea and found Cronus instead, and returned to the palace with his blood smeared along her cheeks, well, that was no one's business but her own.) 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I must attribute credit, as I'm decent at worldbuilding but not at naming things.
> 
> Her Imperial Benevolence and the Revolter is attributed to [here](http://beforusancestry.tumblr.com/post/48025399941/i-have-this-headcanon-that-aradia-on-beforus)  
> The Gam8itor, the Jongleur, and the Mediator are from [here](http://dontneedyourheroact.tumblr.com/post/67123916928/thank-u-hollyn-tell-me-more-jordan-i-have-so) (which is by far my favorite post I've found)  
> The Justiciar (and you know Terezi would break every rule and have a name with nine letters, come on) was pulled from [these lovely Alternian ancestor godtier designs](http://mspaforums.com/showthread.php?53523-Ancestors-Godtier!)
> 
> I may have forgot something, if I did let me know and I shall attribute credit!


End file.
